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Research projects

All-year lamb production

Lamb production in New Zealand is seasonal, with most ewes lambing from August to October. But ewes have the potential to lamb out of the traditional season, potentially three times within two years. More frequent lamb production has the potential to increase farmer returns.
Our studies identify management techniques to maximise ewe-breeding performance outside the normal period. Management guidelines have been developed for farmers.

Antler removal and deer welfare

Evaluation of analgesia of the pedicle and antler. This resulted in best practice for analgesia of the velvet antler. An additional study concerns the factors contributing to the death of stags under xylazine sedation for the purpose of antler removal.

Assessment of transport and transformation of nitrogen in the subsurface environment

Field measurements on Dairy 1 and lab experiments are being used to develop methods and procedures to assess and characterise the transport and transformation of nitrate-nitrogen in alluvial unsaturated and saturated (shallow groundwater) zones. With the results of this research farmers will be able to identify the capacity of their land to transport and transform nitrogen, and understand the soil and landuse practises that will reduce the amount of nitrogen reaching waterways, while maintaining productivity.

C-Dax invests in Agri Tech

The C-Dax pasture robot, developed in conjunction with students at Massey University, has been designed to help precisely measure pasture automously, saving both labour costs and the over fertilisation of land.

Community farming solutions for disabled

The majority of Cambodians live in rural areas, which makes small scale farming a huge part of their daily lives. However, there are a large number of people with disabilities who find this environment challenging because of missing limbs, blindness or other impairments.

Dr Andrew Drain, as part of his PhD research is working with rural communities to create farming technologies for these people. The project is helping them learn proven design processes so they can come up with designs that can easily be recreated throughout rural Cambodia.

Cow GPS aids sustainable grazing research

This research monitored cows over two consecutive winters at Massey University’s Tuapaka farm to get baseline measures of how the beef cows used the 8 to 12 ha paddocks.

The research found that, even in extensive hill country paddocks, cows avoided walking uphill. Instead the cows followed the contours of the hills and concentrated their grazing on the flatter areas. The movement of the cows was largely unaffected by cold, wet weather. The research is part of an ongoing project funded by Beef + Lamb New Zealand

Crop germplasm activities

In recent years Massey University has applied funding to support the broad development of plant germplasm collections (living plant collections) which can contribute to Māori interests in horticulture. These collections are mostly being established at Massey but with some satellite activity in the regions and Pacific countries.
The primary crops where germplasm is being managed are: Taewa or Māori potatoes, Kumara, kaanga or Indian corn, Taro (NZ and Pacific), kamokamo (a naturalised cucurbit) and kokihi (NZ spinach).

Developing a new way of measuring animal pain

A new device designed by engineers and veterinarians at Massey University seeks to change the way we understand and manage animal pain, starting with sheep.
The research team worked with Massey’s engineering expertise to develop a device which is better for animal and researcher. It transmits data via wifi and is lighter and more comfortable for the animal.

Dishing the dirt on world soil health

Massey University scientists contributed to a report issued by the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, stating that the world’s soils are at best only in fair condition and in some areas are very poor.

According to the report, 33 per cent of land is being moderately to highly degraded due to erosion, salinisation, pollution, compaction or acidification. The current rate of soil degradation threatens the capacity to meet the needs of future generations.

Early lamb weaning studies

New research from Massey University suggests that lambs can be successfully weaned lighter and earlier, with benefits for the mother as well.
The research shown lambs of ewes feeding on a legume-based diet can be successfully weaned at approximately 50 days old, or seven weeks, when they are as light as 16kg.
Under the correct conditions, the early weaning allows the lambs to grow faster and the ewes to regain more body condition before the next breeding season.

Feed efficiency in beef cattle

Measuring feed intake in grazing beef cattle is costly and difficult, however, it can be achieved in a feedlot situation. This project compared the performance of cattle of known genetic merit for residual feed intake (RFI) in a feedlot environment in a New Zealand grazing environment.

Fetal wastage

Investigating the prevalence and incidence of abortion in deer herds and identification of potential infectious and non-infectious causes. Development and validation of tests for various pathogens and identifying solutions including vaccinations for Toxoplasma.

Facilities

AHC teaching laboratories

Massey's Manawatu campus hosts one of the few multi-discipline teaching laboratories in Australasia.
The labs won a Best Practice Award for Innovation at the Association for Tertiary Education Management conference in Australia and were shortlisted for the international UKS-Lab awards.

Dame Ella Campbell Herbarium (MPN)

The majority of our collection comes from New Zealand, but there are also many specimens from around the world. The majority of our material is from the North Island from the Volcanic Plateau, to Hawke’s Bay and Taranaki and south to Wellington.

Fenix Hyperspectral Imaging System

As part of the "Pioneering to Precision" PGP project with Ravensdown and the Ministry for Primary Industries, Massey University purchased a Fenix Hyperspectral Imaging System (Fenix). This is the only Fenix owned outside of the UK and Europe.
Flown in a fixed-wing aircraft, the Fenix obtains images from over 450 wave bands including visible, near, short and infra-red. These form maps of nutrient content and concentration, pasture quality and areas of poor drainage, can identify species and cultivars and is used internationally to determine water quality and algae detection.
The Fenix can cover large areas in short periods and enables surveys of previously-inaccessible areas.

Massey Botanic Gardens

This project is working to expand on Massey’s already expansive campus to create a botanic garden available for research, teaching and to the community across New Zealand and internationally. The garden will generate a wealth of information on restoration methods and the management of rare, threatened and endangered plants from around the world.

Massey Farms

Working with industry and research partners, Massey Farms run research and trials in areas of significance to science, the industry and consumer. There are eight farms as part of the group, including conventional and organic dairy units, sheep, beef and deer breeding units and a mixed enterprise/grazing/cropping unit over 2000 hectares.

Multirotors

Currently the New Zealand Centre for Precision Agriculture has a quadcopter and an octocopter in the fleet. They are equipped with GPS, altitude control, telemetry, position hold and waypoint flying. Both machines were purchased and assembled by Aerobot in Australia and they run the Mikrokopter flight systems, based in Germany.
The quadcopter has a maximum payload of 1kg and the octocopter can technically lift 5kg, but for a decent flight time a maximum payload of 2.5-3 kg is more suitable.
The quadcopter has a maximum flight range of 250m from the start point whereas the octocopter has the commercial licence GPS and can fly 1000m from the start point.

New Zealand Indigenous Flora Seed Bank

The New Zealand Indigenous Flora Seed Bank (NZIFSB) aims to collect the seeds of New Zealand flora, to conserve the biodiversity within New Zealand’s indigenous flora. Seed banking is a recognised conservation strategy to support in-situ conservation efforts.

UX5

The Trimble fixed-wing UX5 is launched via slingshot off a rail and flies on an automated flight path (set by the user). It takes visible or near-infrared photos which are knitted together to create a mosaic of the sampled area. When the flight is completed, the UX5 will land automatically once the cue from the pilot is given.
The UX5 is most useful for obtaining clear, accurate images and contours of an area, and for generating 3D imagery. It also provides a very accurate Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the area. The camera mounts inside the hull of the UX5 and take two photos per second.

Centre of Excellence in Farm Business Management

We are dedicated to research that increases the farm business management capability of academics, farmers and those who serve them. The insights gained from in-depth research of challenges, solutions and available tools enhance the understanding of farm business decisions by government, industry, rural professionals and farmers.

Centre of Research Excellence in Bio-Protection

Massey is a partner in this national Centre of Research Excellence (CORE). It focuses on fundamental research into natural, sustainable ways of protecting New Zealand from plant pests, diseases and weeds.

Dairy Research Centre

This Centre consists of scientists, technicians and veterinarians with expertise across a broad range of dairy system and dairy animal research projects. We operate a commercial Farm Services Clinic. We also work with some other milk-producing animals including sheep and goats.

Geoinformatics Collaboratory

The Geoinformatics Collaboratory is a virtual research centre. It brings together Massey University scientists across disciplines who work with geographic information and conduct research in geoinformatics. The Collaboratory hosts a virtual research environment as a resource for research, education and collaboration in Geoinformatics, providing data sets, virtual seminars and other resources to researchers and students.

International Sheep Research Centre

Joint Graduate School of Horticulture and Food Enterprise

Massey University and Plant & Food Research have jointly created this graduate school to offer students world class learning and research opportunities. Massey's teaching and research expertise is complemented by Plant & Food Research's focus on delivering for industry. Staff work together on research and in teaching.

Massey Agritech Partnership

The Partnership is focused on working with industry on research and development to provide relevant, leading-edge agricultural and horticultural technology. We have an active postgraduate student programme and provide site-specific consultancy.

Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory

Our research seeks to understand the molecular basis of plant-pathogen interactions so that we can better inform disease resistance breeding programmes in crop and tree species of relevance to New Zealand.

New Zealand Centre for Precision Agriculture

New Zealand Centre for Precision Agriculture (NZCPA) creates practical land management solutions through the use of leading-edge precision technology tools. Whether you are an individual farmer or a large corporation or government agency, we offer relevant, leading research and site-specific consultancy to help enhance the economic and environmental performance of your land.